Community and Scholarships

I'm on vacation and it feels glorious. My hubby Guy and I were originally going to LA but our accommodations fell through and we decided to stay closer to home in sunny Berkeley. Friday night, we went to the Oakland Art Museum with our awesome friend Hugh D'Andrade who is a fabulous artist and is both a former student and a former teacher from when we both worked at UC Berkeley extension in San Francisco. Hugh taught me Illustrator and Dreamweaver and I taught him kids books, and while he hasn't had the perseverance to send out his picture books as much as is needed he has done plenty of wonderful MG and YA covers as well as music posters. Check them out here. The photo below is of Guy and I in front of a Margaret Kilgallen painting that Hugh took.

Friday nights at the OAM are magical. They have lots of food trucks with all sorts of fabulous foods, live music and dancing in the outdoor area, and great art in the museum. There's this overwhelming sense of community that is so beautiful with all ages and ethnicities and orientations, dancing, smiling, and just feeling the goodness of a group of people coming together liking each other. This sense of community is one of the things that is most important things for me in Academy classes where we all help each other and that our bloggers share and it is something that makes my heart really big.

We bring community in many ways, but one of the ways is through scholarships that enable folks who normally might not have access to our courses, to have access, helping to make them the most diverse courses out there on many levels. Soooo, drum roll please..... Our newest scholarship for the upcoming Self and Indie Publishing Interactive e-Course empowering students to take their destiny into their own hands with minimal financial risk, is named after another beautiful former student Kathryn Otoshi. Years ago, Kathryn had the courage of her convictions and became an indie publisher starting KO Press. She believed in herself and her work and is now a multi multi award-winning best selling author, illustrator and publisher. So it is with great pleasure that we honor her by naming this scholarship after her right here.

And for a special treat we have an interview that I did with Kathryn years ago where she shares some of her books. We'll be having a much longer interview in the course, where Kathryn will be sharing helpful information on how she became an indie publisher, what she's learned, and how it's changed her life. Also, Kathryn is especially brilliant with concept books and her books make great mentor texts so check them out.

We'd love it if you would help get the word out about this scholarship and the amazing course that Jed Alexander and I have put together. xox